John Mansfield knows how hard it is to get students to vote.
As campaign manager for the UB Students Party during the 2002 Student Association general elections, he handed out flyers, posted signs and tried to stage a debate.
"We got about 700 people to come out and vote for us," Mansfield recalled. "The campus has 25,000 students. It's pathetic."
That year's election turnout was not unique - and undergraduate Senate elections, such as the one that begins today, tend to draw even less than the executive board general elections.
Last year, 1,006 undergraduates voted in the Senate elections - 629 on-campus students and 377 off-campus students - and many students interviewed by The Spectrum said they would not be voting this year, either.
Jessica Gravius, a freshmen speech and hearing science major, said she had no plans to visit the polls today.
"I didn't hear much about it," Gravius said. "Just today I've overheard people talking about it."
Some say that part of the problem with publicity this year comes from the amount of time between the collection of petitions to make it on the ballot and the actual vote itself. This year petitions were due five days before the start of the vote.
One reason cited by students for not voting is a lack of knowledge about the elections, the candidates, or any campaign issues.
"I don't know the issues they are talking about in this election," said sophomore civil engineering major Ben Hubacher, who does not plan to vote.
"I really don't know anybody that votes," Hubacher added.
Tiffany Beason, a junior communications and African-American studies major, said the only time she hears about the elections is when candidates flood her with flyers in the Student Union on election day.
Beason said she is usually annoyed by candidates' attempts to steer her to a voting booth.
"What's the point of me voting if I don't know what you stand for," Beason said.
Mansfield, the former campaign manager, said he believes one reason students don't receive much information about the elections is because student governments aim to have a majority of the votes come directly from their staff and SA clubs.
"They place their emphasis with their staff and clubs, and the clubs come out and vote for them," Mansfield said.
The elections run from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. today and tomorrow in the Student Union.
